Understanding and directing the forces that determine morphological control over micellar self-assembly has resulted in the observation of shape-dependant characteristics. Cylindrical particles are realizing advantages in comparison to spherical micellar morphologies with preferable properties being elicited in their application as templates for spherical micelles and nanowires as well as toughening of polymer resins. The synthesis and self-assembly of poly(lactide)-b-poly(acrylic acid) and poly(lactide)-b- poly(dimethylaminoethylacrylate) block copolymers by a combination of ring-opening polymerization and reverse-addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization is reported. Self-assembly of block copolymers containing enantipure homochiral poly(lactide), PLA, by a simple direct dissolution methodology results in core-crystallization to afford micelles with a cylindrical morphology. The manipulation of the assembly conditions enabled the length and dispersity of the resultant cylindrical micelles to be controlled. We have explored the mechanism of formation of these cylindrical micelles and also the functionalization of these nanostructures to tailor them towards delivery applications.

Using crystallization driven self assembly for the synthesis of functional nanostructures

248th National Meeting (2014)

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